Background

Wun Wun is present when Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane battle against the White Walkers. Wun Wun appears willing to support Tormund casting his vote simply by stating Tormund's name. Later, when the Night's Watch is gathering the dragonglass that Jon shared with the free folk, as it can kill the White Walkers, Wun Wun is holding a dragonglass arrowhead, and Eddison Tollett approaches to tell the giant to give it up, though he is too afraid to do so because of his intimidating size. Wun Wun gets annoyed by his inaction and asks "The fuck you looking at?" in the giants' rudimentary form of the Old Tongue, so Edd goes away quietly, without collecting the arrowhead, Wun Wun may still possess this piece of dragonglass.[1]
When the Wights attack the village, Wun Wun single-handedly defeats about a dozen of them by ripping them apart, stomping on them, and defending himself with a large burning log. He then retreats into the sea with Jon and the remaining defenders. Being too large for the rowboats, he simply wades out into the bay for a long distance (not drowning due to his great height) to reach the larger ships waiting off shore. He is among the few free folk to escape the Massacre at Hardhome, and the fleet travels back to the Wall.[1]

Alongside the other wildlings, he passes the Wall and leaves Castle Black to settle in the Gift. Many brothers of the Night's Watch are intimidated by him, having never seen a giant before.[2]

Wun Wun and Tormund lead the free folk in an attack on Castle Black, this time to save Jon's body and his few loyalists from the mutineers. Wun Wun breaks down the gates and intimidates the brothers into quickly surrendering, only killing one black brother after he foolishly (and futilely) shoots the giant in the back with a crossbow. After Tormund orders the brothers to stand down, Wun Wun witnesses Ser Alliser and Olly being taken into custody for their role in the mutiny and the murder of Jon Snow.[3]

When Jon, Sansa and Tormund attempt to recruit the wildlings, Wun Wun is present and is the first to cast his vote by saying 'Snow'.[4]

Wun Wun is on the front lines of Jon's army fighting against Ramsay Bolton and his forces at Winterfell. During the battle, after Jon's cavalry enters the fight and Ramsay's archers stop, Davos leads Wun Wun and his archers in a charge, as they cannot fire from their current position without hitting their own men. Wun Wun fights until they are surrounded by Smalljon Umber and the Bolton army. Wun Wun uses his colossal strength to try and tear through the infantry line, but despite making a few noteworthy kills, he is outmatched by the rows of enemy pikes. He appears significantly weakened by his injuries. However, Petyr Baelish arrives with the Knights of the Vale, his aid having been finally accepted by Sansa.

Wun Wun, moments before his death.

Ramsay's forces are decimated by the Vale cavalry and he retreats to Winterfell, reassuring his men that the opposing army lacks the resources to lay siege. Moments later, being in the vanguard to reach Winterfell, Wun Wun uses the last of his strength to breach the fortress's wooden doors with his bare hands, and then is riddled with arrows by the few remaining Bolton archers. At that point, the Starks and Arryns reach Winterfell and proceed to clear out the remaining Boltons. Wun Wun falls to his knees, bloodied, injured and exhausted from the battle, as yet more bolts and arrows are fired into him. As he looks at Jon, who reaches out to him, he is shot in the eye by Ramsay Bolton, killing him, as Jon and Tormund watch helplessly. Enraged, Jon furiously beats Ramsay to a pulp but stops after noticing Sansa standing over them. Wun Wun is avenged when Ramsay is taken prisoner, and after a barbed exchange with Sansa, he is fed to his own starving hounds.[5]

It is currently unknown if Wun Wun was the last of his kind, or if giants still exist somewhere beyond the Wall. In the opening episode of Season 7, Dragonstone, a horde of wights led by White Walkers, includes a few giants who have been converted to wights.

Image gallery

Behind the scenes

Stuntman Ian Whyte has previously played several roles in Game of Thrones, including Dongo - the first giant to appear in the TV series back in the Season 3 premiere, who later died in the Battle of Castle Black at the end of Season 4, and Gregor Clegane in Season 2.

Wun Wun is also the first giant to have any speaking lines in the TV series.

During the climax of the Battle of the Bastards, just after Wun Wun smashes the door to Winterfell, a CGI mistake shows half an arrow floating beside Wun Wun's head as he is shot by Bolton soldiers.

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun is at least fourteen feet tall, even larger than Mag the Mighty, and possesses the strength of twelve men. Whilst typically passive and quiet, he will lash out if provoked. Unlike the savage giants in Old Nan's stories, he is vegetarian. He speaks the Old Tongue.

Along with some wildlings, Wun Wun is discovered by Jon Snow when he leads new recruits to the weirwood grove in the Haunted Forest. With the help of some diplomacy by the new wildling recruit Leathers, they avoid a fight and manage to convince the wildlings and the giant to return with them to Castle Black.

Wun Wun does not take part in the battle at Hardhome. It is unknown if he ever was there at all.

Shortly after Jon announces he intends to travel to Winterfell and kill Ramsay Bolton, he hears a commotion at Hardin’s Tower. He rushes there and sees Wun Wun smashing the head of a knight named Ser Patrek of King’s Mountain. Jon commands the gathering people to keep back and put away their weapons, and tries to calm the giant down. It is then that Jon is attacked and stabbed by his own men. Wun Wun smashing Ser Patrek against the wall is incorporated into the series in Season 6 when the Wildlings, Wun Wun, and Edd Tollett take back Castle Black from Alliser Thorne's mutineers. One foolish man shoots the giant in the back with a crossbow, and in retaliation Wun Wun grabs the man by the leg and whips him into the wall, just as he did to Ser Patrek in A Dance With Dragons.

Wun Wun's name is an in-joke by George R.R. Martin: an avid American Football fan, Martin named him after Phil Simms, quarterback for the New York Giants, whose jersey number was "#11" - "one one", or "wun wun". Wun Wun killed Ser Patrek is due to a bet George R.R. Martin made with his friend Patrick St. Denis. When the Giants defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the game on which the friends were wagering, George wrote the killing of Ser Patrek by Wun Wun into A Dance With Dragons.